1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to allergy testing and, more particularly, to an apparatus that allows for simultaneously testing a patient's reaction to a plurality of allergens.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Allergy testing involves subjecting a patient to a wide variety of different allergens to determine which allergens cause an allergic reaction in the patient. Such testing requires that the respective allergens be applied beneath the surface of the patient's skin. One conventional method is to individually place a drop of allergen on the patient's skin and then prick the contacted skin so that the allergen will be delivered under the patient's skin. For this purpose portable trays have been employed incorporating upwardly opening wells spaced thereabout for receipt of tubular shaped vial tubes for holding respective allergens for receipt of individual vial applicators or picks. A device of this type is shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,906. This procedure is very time consuming, expensive and, in many instances, subjects the patient to prolonged periods of uneasiness and discomfort.
Another method employed in the prior art is to simultaneously apply a plurality of allergens to a patient. Forms of such apparatus can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,292,979 and 5,154,181.
The above-mentioned prior art apparatus have some disadvantageous features associated with them. For example, one of the prior art references, mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,181, has the respective applicator picks fixedly attached to the hand held applicator member of the device. As such, the hand held applicator applies only a preset number of allergens and is not readily adaptable for use in applying different sets of allergens. In addition, the entire applicator device must be sterilized between use thereof, which is an inefficient and time-consuming process.
The other prior art reference, set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,979, permanently attaches the applicator needles to the hand held applicator by means of machine screws which threadably engage such needles. As such, the needles are not readily exchangeable to provide sets of different desired members of applicators. Another such applicator is one sold by Lincoln Diagnostics Inc., Decater, Ill. under the trade designation MULTI-TEST as shown at 30 USPQ2d 1817 and at 1821 (U.S. TTAB), U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,080. The devices shown are in the form of plastic frames formed with laterally disposed legs terminating in spaced apart feet defining respective points disposed in a common plane for receipt of respective allergens to be simultaneously applied to a patient. As with the above mentioned applicator, these devices suffer the shortcoming that there are a fixed number of pricks thus subjecting each patient on which they are used to a fixed number of pricks irrespective of the number of allergens to be applied. Therefore, the hand held applicators of the prior art references do not provide an efficient arrangement for engaging and applying multiple sets of allergens to a patient. In addition, due to the fact that removing the needles is quite time-consuming in the prior art references, those testing devices are essentially established with respect to the number of needles they may apply to a patient, so that the testing surface, namely the patient's skin, becomes a factor in the accurate application of the allergens. Further, there is no provision for varying the number of allergens to be applied so that, without the time-consuming procedure of manually removing the individual unwanted applicator needles, each patient will be exposed to the same preset number of needle pricks irrespective of the number of allergens to be applied.
As such, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for an improved allergen testing device that allows for simultaneous application of a plurality of allergens while allowing the operator to apply different sets of injection picks to the patient with the same testing device without the need for sterilization of the device between successive uses thereof. In addition, there continues to be a need for a device which limits the amount of waste materials created by the use thereof, as well as for a device which allows the operator to efficiently vary the number of allergens to be applied to different patients. The instant invention addresses such needs.